Prosecutors: Woman had soda can with green paint

Green paint is seen on the pedestal of the statue of Joseph Henry, outside the headquarters of the Smithsonian Institution on the National Mall in Washington, Monday, July 29, 2013. U.S. Park police say the marring of the Smithsonian's first secretary was discovered on July 26, the same day that the Lincoln Memorial was splattered with green paint. The Smithsonian's Museum of Natural History is seen in the distance. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

(Updated at 5:23 p.m.) WASHINGTON — A woman charged with defacing the Washington National Cathedral was carrying a soda can containing green paint when she was arrested, and she has been linked to at least four other incidents of vandalism, including at the Lincoln Memorial, according to prosecutors and court documents.

The woman was arrested Monday at the cathedral, where she is accused of using green paint to deface an organ and decorative woodwork in two separate chapels. She’s been charged with defacing and destroying private property. A judge on Tuesday ordered her held without bond.

Authorities believe the green paint vandalism was part of a pattern of similar acts. Green paint was discovered splattered onto the Lincoln Memorial early Friday morning, and it was found later Friday on a statue outside the Smithsonian headquarters on the National Mall.

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The woman, who has a Chinese passport, arrived in Washington a few days ago and was traveling on an expired visa, prosecutors said. Police said she had no fixed address but that she told officers she lived in Los Angeles.

According to court documents, the woman is also suspected of vandalizing a statue of Martin Luther on Thomas Circle in downtown Washington, which was also hit with green paint.

Following her arrest, a witness contacted police and reported that the woman had been seen attending a service at a church less than a block from Thomas Circle, according to court documents. The witness reported that the woman was carrying three bags with her. After she left, the witness found that a pipe organ in the church had been splattered with white paint, urine and feces, documents show.

Tian was arrested inside the cathedral’s Children’s Chapel on Monday afternoon, shortly after the still-wet green paint was discovered there. When a police officer approached her, she walked away and placed the soda can with green paint inside one of three bags that were sitting on chairs in the chapel, documents show. She also had green paint on her clothing, shoes and body, according to the documents.

She was wearing a multicolored sock on her right arm, and a similar sock was found in a trash can in a bathroom at the cathedral on top of a can of green paint, according to the documents. The bags placed in the chapel also had cans of green paint in them, the documents show.

Cleanup crews have been working for the past few days to remove the paint from the Lincoln Memorial. Cleanup and restoration work at the cathedral was estimated to cost $15,000. The Episcopal cathedral serves as the nation’s spiritual home and has hosted state funerals and inaugural prayer services.

WASHINGTON — Police said they are investigating whether a woman arrested in the splattering of green paint inside two chapels at the Washington National Cathedral has any connection to two similar incidents on the National Mall.

Jiamei Tian, 58, was arrested Monday inside the cathedral shortly after the paint was found and charged with defacing property, police and cathedral officials said. Investigators were hoping to question her about the vandalism on the Mall, including the splattering of green paint at the Lincoln Memorial, but a language barrier was complicating those efforts, Assistant D.C. Police Chief Peter Newsham said after the arrest.

It was not immediately clear if Tian had an attorney. Police believed she was homeless. No motive was given.

Green paint was found early Friday morning on the Lincoln Memorial, and symbols have also been found painted in green on another statue on the Mall. The Lincoln Memorial was closed temporarily but reopened later Friday.

Sgt. Paul Brooks, a U.S. Park Police spokesman, said it was too early to tell whether the same person was responsible for the vandalism at the two Mall landmarks. He noted that while the paint appeared to be splattered indiscriminately on the memorial, the statue appeared to have been deliberately painted. The symbols on the statue were not immediately decipherable.

Officials at the cathedral discovered the paint inside two chapels Monday afternoon. It was still wet, which led them to believe the vandalism had just occurred. Officials called police immediately and closed the cathedral to visitors while authorities searched the grounds. The paint was splashed onto an organ and on the floor inside the cathedral’s historic Bethlehem Chapel on the basement level, officials said. It was also found inside the Children’s Chapel in the nave of the cathedral.

Also Monday, U.S. Park Police said green paint was found on the statue of Joseph Henry outside the headquarters of the Smithsonian Institution on the Mall. Henry was the Smithsonian’s first secretary.

Meanwhile, crews continued working Monday to remove the paint from the Lincoln Memorial. The National Park Service said progressively stronger substances would be used until all the paint is gone, which could take several days. The memorial was scheduled to be power washed Tuesday.

Cleanup and restoration work at the cathedral was expected to cost $15,000, cathedral spokesman Richard Weinberg said. Crews were there late Monday, and events at the cathedral were going on as scheduled. Some of the paint was splattered onto the decorative wall behind the altar in the Children’s Chapel, which has ornate wood carvings that required some restoration, Weinberg said.

Bethlehem Chapel was opened in 1912 and is the oldest section of the cathedral. It was the site of President Woodrow Wilson’s burial rites, and his remains were entombed there for more than three decades. Wilson’s remains were later interred in a memorial bay on the cathedral’s main level.

Washington National Cathedral is an Episcopal cathedral that serves as the nation’s spiritual home. It has hosted inaugural prayer services and the state funerals for presidents Dwight Eisenhower, Ronald Reagan and Gerald Ford.

Green paint is seen on the pedestal of the statue of Joseph Henry, outside the headquarters of the Smithsonian Institution on the National Mall in Washington, Monday, July 29, 2013. U.S. Park police say the marring of the Smithsonian’s first secretary was discovered on July 26, the same day that the Lincoln Memorial was splattered with green paint. The Smithsonian’s Museum of Natural History is seen in the distance. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

Caption 2:

Green paint is seen on the pedestal of the statue of Joseph Henry, outside the headquarters of the Smithsonian Institution on the National Mall in Washington, Monday, July 29, 2013. U.S. Park police say the marring of the Smithsonian’s first secretary was discovered on July 26, the same day that the Lincoln Memorial was splattered with green paint. The Smithsonian’s Museum of Natural History is seen in the distance. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

Caption 3:

Green paint is seen on the pedestal of the statue of Joseph Henry, outside the headquarters of the Smithsonian Institution on the National Mall in Washington, Monday, July 29, 2013. U.S. Park police say the marring of the Smithsonian’s first secretary was discovered on July 26, the same day that the Lincoln Memorial was splattered with green paint. The Smithsonian’s Museum of Natural History is seen in the distance. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)